Reader Question Day #19
Manwe asks:
What do you prefer (considering print books): hard cover, paperback, or massmarket paperback? Each has their pros and cons.
It depends on the purpose I have in mind for the book. If it’s something I want to keep long-term, then I’ll get it in hardback. However, I do most of my reading at lunch now, and a hardback is a pain to lug around with me. So if it’s something I just want to read for recreation at lunch, I’ll get it in paperback.
That said, reading on a Kindle is way easier than reading on a paperback. So if it something I used to get in paperback, I’ll probably get it in ebook format now.
When are you going to reveal the cover art for GHOST IN THE STORM?
Why, right here:
Stormdancers, stormsingers, New Kyre…I have not read all the Ghost books yet, did they factor into previous Caina stories, or are they a totally new foe? And speaking of these people, do they have a real life historical/mythological counterpart?
The Kyracians are mentioned briefly in all three of the previous THE GHOSTS books. Caina can speak Kyracian, since it’s one of the major languages of the western Empire. Jiri, one of the Ghosts of Marsis in GHOST IN THE BLOOD, is of Kyracian descent, though she thinks of herself as a member of the Empire.
This is the first mention of New Kyre in the series. The gist is that the Empire destroyed Old Kyrace centuries ago, but the survivors fled and founded New Kyre, and have been hostile to the Empire ever since. They don’t have anything near the Empire’s manpower, but their stormsingers can control the weather, so the Kyracian fleet is the best in the world. The Kyracians cannot destroy the Empire, but the Empire can’t conquer New Kyre, so they’re locked in an unpleasant stalemate.
I’ve been playing around with the idea of stormsingers and the story of Old Kyrace/New Kyre for years, even before I started the Caina stories, so it’s nice to finally integrate it into a book.
Kallinikos asks:
How fast do you write?
I try to do 2,000 to 2,500 new words a day, minimum, when writing new material. When I’m editing, I try to get at least 4,000 words of revision done a day. This can go up or down, of course, depending on circumstances, but I try to stick to it. I’m usually successful – in March I had a goal of writing at least 60,000 words of GHOST IN THE STORM, and I actually managed about 72,000.
-JM
“I’ll probably get it in ebook format now.”
I go for the bound books, I really only buy ebooks if I can’t get them in another format (like your books for example). I usually go for the middle ground of the paperback, not as heavy as a hardcover, but bigger than a massmarket paperback. Though I have many of each type. I actually asked this question because I’m purchasing the rest of the WOT series and was wondering what format to get the rest in. You see, I have the originals in the big paperback format, but alot of the later series is not available in that style, so I’m left with either the overpriced ($20 a pop) hardcovers, or the much cheaper ($8-9) massmarkets, but the in the massmarket format, Jordan’s already overlong books hit a thousand pages or more, and so are kind of awkward. That and the idea of reading over a thousand pages on the small mm format is giving me a headache! How did you read the later WOT books, in hc or mm?
“The Kyracians are mentioned briefly in all three of the previous THE GHOSTS books”
Really? Sadly I don’t remember that, and I have a good memory when it comes to books (at least I think so, hehe). Maybe I will need to reread the earlier ones again! See this is what happens when you are an unfaithful reader like myself! I have a habit of reading through many books at once, I don’t usually only stick to one at a time, so these things are liable to happen :O (especially when sometimes you take a break from a book, and don’t get back to it until YEARS later…)
“How did you read the later WOT books, in hc or mm?”
I read the first eight in mass-market paperback, and the remainder in hardback.
“Sadly I don’t remember that, and I have a good memory when it comes to books (at least I think so, hehe).”
To be fair, I didn’t remember half of what I had written in GHOST IN THE BLOOD, and I wrote it! So I went back and read through all three THE GHOSTS books before starting on GHOST IN THE STORM.
“To be fair, I didn’t remember half of what I had written in GHOST IN THE BLOOD, and I wrote it!”
ROFL! That line just made my day 😉
While I’m not in the habit of rereading books, I do when I have too. When you read, do you concentrate on one book at a time, or more scattered like myself?